Friday, November 21, 2008

In a stunning new annual report, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) reveals that it saw a significant drop in customers in 2007 … with one major exception.

The total number of “medical visits” fell 15%, from 150,000 in 2006, to 127,000 in 2007.

The number of emergency contraception sales – a significant source of largely illegal revenue – fell 13%. Government records show a $1m drop in revenue from Medicaid billings for emergency contraception.

And their number of Take Charge patient exams actually fell 25%, from just under 70,000 to just over 50,000. The Take Charge program has been the major factor behind PPWW’s doubling in size and revenue under the Bush Administration. Again, state Medicaid records show a $1.5m drop in reimbursements for oral contraception. Their extraordinary – and again largely illegal – profits from reselling all forms of contraception at a 3 to 4 times purchase price even fell, from $9.6 million to $7 million.

Even more dramatically, the number of “Pregnancy Visits” fell a startling 50%, from just under 32,000 to just over 16,000.

Their number of “Tests and treatments for Sexually Transmitted Infections” also fell 50%.

With this drop in clients and revenue line items, you would expect their program revenue to have taken a hit from the 2006 level of $22.5 million.

And you would expect the number of abortions to have declined also, right?

But you would be wrong on both counts. Very, very wrong.

Program revenue stayed pretty much flat. How did they do that? Well, we don’t know for sure. But we have a partial explanation.

The only number that didn’t go down was the number of abortions performed. In fact, that number jumped a shocking 16% from 2006 to 2007, to a record 9,059.

It seems that regardless which direction all the other numbers move, one thing that is constant with PPWW is that their number of abortions goes up.

But now they are actually killing 50% more babies than they were just 3 years ago!

How Do They Do More Abortions With Fewer Clients?

We have asked PPWW about these stunning figures, but they have refused to comment, so we are left to speculate.

The most obvious question is: how are they doing 16% more abortions with 50% less “Pregnancy Visits”? Now almost 60% of all pregnancy visits end in abortion. Three years previously, just 18% of pregnancy visits ended in abortion.

Our best guess is as follows: historically abortion clinics like PP have women come in when they are pregnant for a pregnancy test and a counseling session. That counts as 1 visit. Then they would schedule an abortion, previously all surgical. That’s a second visit. Then some of those women would come in for a followup. Third visit.

The new PP “protocol” seems to be to do the counseling session on the first phone call. This includes the abortion sell. At the end of that phone call the abortion is scheduled for the first visit. No pregnancy test. No ultrasound viewing of their baby. No viewing of fetal models. No reflection period. We suspect these conversations include subtle pressure about how if they “wait too long” they will no longer be eligible for a chemical abortion, which is “more natural”, “more like a miscarriage”.

Probably most of these abortions are now chemical. The 2006 annual report noted that 33% of their abortions were now chemical. The new report (2007) made no mention of the new figure.

We don’t know if the women are pressured to take the first abortion pill at the clinic to avoid the “risk” of the women changing their mind if they take it home to take. But we do know that many women don’t return for the followup visit.

This would perfectly explain the new numbers.

Interestingly, the annual report is long on whining and complaining about government cutbacks and forced employee layoffs. But there is no attempt to explain any of these astonishing trends in their abortion rate, or how they managed to keep their program revenue almost flat despite the loss of non-abortion clients.

And there was absolutely no attempt to explain why their abortion business keeps growing faster than the federal debt despite all their supposed efforts to proliferate contraception, emergency or otherwise.

Seattle, Washington -- An analysis of Washington state’s Take Charge pilot program reveals an increase in both abortion and tax dollars spent on abortion and childbirth services. The investigation by the independent web site Abortion in Washington shows the number of abortions performed by the program's leading partner, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, (PPWW) has been increasing 11% per year. Additionally, the intended cost-savings are not being realized.

Take Charge is a Medicaid section 1115 Waiver program initiated in 2001 to provide free contraceptives to low-income women not already covered under Medicaid. It was originally funded for 5 years in 2001, then extended for 3 more years, and comes up for renewal in 2009.

“The state is facing serious financial challenges. The last thing we need are government programs that do more harm than good and are actually failing to deliver the promised benefits”, said Mary Emanuel, assistant publisher of Abortion in Washington.

When the program began, the state was paying out $200 million a year for childbirth services under Medicaid. That figure has shot up 50%, to $300 million under the program. The state of Washington is now at a point where almost half of all births in the state are paid for by Medicaid.

“Taxpayers are supposed to be saving money and there are supposed to be fewer abortions but with this program we are seeing the exact opposite,” added Emanuel. “With the tight budgets King County and the state government are facing, ending family planning programs like Take Charge at Community Health Centers would be a win-win for everybody.”

The contraceptives are distributed through Planned Parenthood offices as well as Community Health Clinics on the theory that with more women using contraceptives the number of unwanted pregnancies will decline, thus leading to a decline in the number of high cost Medicaid-paid births. As the data shows, this has not been the outcome.

"Given the budget crisis facing government at all levels, ending this taxpayer largesse to Planned Parenthood is long overdue," said Dan Kennedy CEO of Human Life of Washington.

It seems that the only one benefitting from Take Charge in Washington is PPWW, which has seen their annual revenues skyrocket from about $17 million to near $35 million. (Download a .pdf of PPWW's 2006 IRS 990 form here.) A spokesman for PPWW admitted earlier this year that it had indeed used the profits from the Take Charge business to open up new abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood’s own annual report reveals that fully 70% of their 150,000 client visits were funded by Take Charge. The state is then left to cover the cost of an abortion or a Medicaid birth. Planned Parenthood is under investigation nationwide for Medicaid fraud in the illegal profiteering from contraceptive sales.

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For more information contact: Mary Emanuel, Abortion in Washington, http://abortionstate.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 17, 2008

On November 14th, the Governor Christine Gregoire's office produced an email that is addressed to Planned Parenthood of Western Washington from Christina Hulet, the Governor's Aide. It says…

Amy,The Governor received a letter of strong support from Robb Miller, Executive Director of Compassion and Choices of WA, regarding the pharmacy board issue.

We're following up with a letter from the Gov, but wanted to also pass on the name to you in case their organization isn't part of the coalition. His contact number is 206-256-1636.Christina

Saying "I told you so" just doesn't cover the sum of my feelings on this topic.

It's interesting that the supporters of assisted suicide claim they believe in allowing providers to opt out (as stated in the initiative's exemption), but they have also urged the Governor to force pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. I'll bet the long term plan is to get rid of the opt-out.

We are looking forward to reading the promised follow-up letter from the Governor. Perhaps someone can send all the correspondence to Archbishop Burnett since he still believes Gregoire to be a supporter of the Catholic Church's teachings on life. Maybe an email and a letter from Governor Gregoire showing her pimping for the Euthansia-Abortion-Contraception movement will get his attention.

...I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion...[many people are] aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and [do] not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace ... You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child...With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life. -- Pope John Paul II